Cumberland County Department of CorrectionsAnderson Sotomayor as he was processed at Cumberland County Jail Thursday night.

BRIDGETON — A city man charged with drunken driving five times in the last three months was charged a sixth time Thursday evening, according to Vineland Police.

Anderson Sotomayor, 45, of Lincoln Road, was stopped at the intersection of Seventh Street and Chestnut Avenue around 7 p.m., police reported.

He was arrested for driving while intoxicated and transported to the city police station, where, police say, he refused a breathalyzer test.

Sotomayor was lodged in Cumberland County Jail on a no-bail warrant.

In light of Sotomayor’s newest offense, Assemblyman Nelson Albano is re-thinking a bill he is sponsoring to address repeat DWI offenders.

“It doesn’t go far enough,” said Albano on Friday. “We now want to amend it to incorporate other things, like drug offenses.”

Under Albano’s bill, which passed the Law and Public Safety committee early this month by a 10-1 vote, a person convicted of driving while intoxicated twice within two months is guilty of a fourth-degree crime punishable by a $10,000 fine and up to 18 months in prison.

Driving while intoxicated (DWI) is classified at present as a traffic offense.

The bill also requires courts to suspend the person’s driver’s license when one is charged with a second DWI offense within 60 days and permits judges to impose bail up to $10,000.

Courts can’t typically impose a bail amount higher than $2,500 for fourth-degree crimes.However, Albano now wants the bill to allow judges to immediately place offenders into rehabilitation once they post bill.

“Looking at (Thursday night’s) incident, I now see that the bill, as initially introduced, would not have prevented what happened,” he said. “I want it so that, for any drug or alcohol offender, the judge can order that person into rehab once they make bail.

A warrant was issued for his arrest earlier Thursday after he failed to make an appearance in Superior Court on a charge related to his last arrest.

Thursday’s status conference in Bridgeton was intended to deal with the charge of illegal use of oxycodone, which he received on May 16, the same day police slapped him with his fifth DWI.

Sotomayor posted a $20,000 bail bond on Monday after spending slightly more than one month in county jail on the drug charge.

In a voice message left at The News this week, Sotomayor proclaimed his innocence in regard to the drug offense.

“It wasn’t illegal use of oxycodone,” he said. “I have a prescription for it.”

Sotomayor’s first DWI charge came on April 9, when he reportedly collided with a police vehicle on the 300 block of Axtell Avenue, in Vineland.

Two days later on April 11, police charged him with DWI after responding to an accident during which Sotomayor had struck a utility pole by the intersection of Main Street and Landis Avenue.

Two weeks later, on April 25, police charged him with DWI and several other offenses after stopping him by the intersection of Delsea Drive and Park Avenue for swerving and possession of a still-cold, opened 40-ounce bottle of Budweiser beer on the floor behind the passenger seat.

Just over two weeks later, on Saturday, May 12, Vineland police again pulled Sotomayor over on the 200 block of Grape Street. There, Sotomayor reportedly refused to take a breathalyzer test and was again charged with DWI.

After each of the first four DWI arrests, Sotomayor was released pending a Vineland Municipal Court date.

It wasn’t until he was charged with the drug-related offense that he came under the jurisdiction of Superior court, and was lodged in the county jail.

Superior Court Judge Darrell Fineman on May 17, the day after his drug-related arrest, doubled Sotomayor’s bail from $10,000 to $20,000.